With regard to indoor spaces of large buildings (such as corridors and/or common rooms of apartment buildings and/or office buildings) and/or large outdoor spaces, it is often desirable to provide a lighting control system for controlling the light fixtures that illuminate such spaces to minimize or to reduce energy costs. Current lighting control systems use various means and/or devices to control the lighting in an area such as a corridor or room. For example, each of a plurality of light fixtures in a corridor may include one or more motion sensors operably connected to control circuitry configured to transmit data to, and receive instruction data from, a central location that controls the power consumed or supplied to each light fixture. Thus, centrally located lighting control systems can require the integration of sensors and lighting drivers into a dedicated analogue and/or digital communications system, which may be implemented, for example, by the digital addressable lighting interface (DALI) protocol. Installation of such a system often requires rewiring a building facility, which can be time-consuming, disruptive to operations, and expensive. In addition, after such a lighting control system is installed it must be maintained and/or monitored (and periodically upgraded), which can also be expensive and involve special expertise. Moreover, in some implementations the lighting control is not automatic and requires user input in order to control the luminosity in a room.
In some cases, lighting in an area can be remotely controlled, but then user input is required. Thus, the energy savings are not likely to be great. Motion sensors can also be used to control lighting in an area to save energy, but such a system is often characterized by abrupt On and Off cycles that do not provide continuous light to an area when a person is present, such as when the person is at a border of a detection area of one of the motion sensors. Therefore, while the use of a centrally located lighting control system, a remote lighting control system, or motion detector system can provide for some energy savings, it would be desirable to provide a lighting control system that provides a good trade-off between efficiency and user experience, that does not require rewiring of an area, that does not require expensive maintenance, and that does not have abrupt On and Off cycles.